Technology-forward singer/synthesist Thomas Dolby is gearing up to headline the fifteen-city 2026 Totally Tubular Festival. Joining him onstage will be the newly reformed Lost Toy People, his highly-rated backing band from 1986 to 1989. Dolby & The Lost Toy People recorded and released the multiple Grammy-nominated ALIENS ATE MY BUICK (his third album), which spawned such alternative radio hits as “Airhead,” “The Ability To Swing,” and “The Key To Her Ferrari.” Their Totally Tubular headlining set will feature most of the tracks from the album as well as Dolby’s greatest hits such as “She Blinded Me With Science”, all played completely live with the full band.
Lost Toy People’s last performance was in front of 60,000 at the Pasadena Rose Bowl for Depeche Mode’s now-legendary Concert for the Masses in June, 1988. Tragically, Dolby’s phenomenal bassist Terry Jackson died with members of Reba McIntyre’s band when their private jet flew into the side of a mountain near San Diego. Forty years after its inception, Dolby has reformed Lost Toy People with original guitarist Larry Treadwell and singer/percussionist Laura Creamer, plus the addition of Divinity Roxx (Beyoncé’s band leader) on bass, Mat Hector (Iggy Pop, Thom Yorke, Grace Jones) on drums, and renowned New Orleans trombonist Ethan Santos. Other past LTP members make surprise cameos.
The Totally Tubular Festival tour dates kick off next month. An 80s alternative music lovers’ dream, the package tour also features A Flock Of Seagulls, Men Without Hats, Bow Wow Wow, The Producers, Animotion, The Escape Club and Tommy Tutone (exact line-ups vary per city). Please see below for the itinerary. Click here to purchase tickets.
Thomas Dolby formed The Lost Toy People after moving from his native UK to Los Angeles in 1986. Thinking he spotted a flyer on a lamp post for a band with that great name, he was disappointed to discover next day that what the flyer actually said was ‘Lost toy poodle, reward $50.’ Dolby immediately placed an ad in The Recycler and auditioned a couple hundred young hopefuls. The guys he picked had limited experience – guitarist Larry Treadwell had recently finished a spell warming up for Pope John Paul II and his ‘popemobile’ US Stadium tour. David Owens was working as the house drummer at Knotts Berry Farm amusement park where he once had to perform in a chicken suit.
After locking themselves in a rehearsal room for several weeks, the newly assembled Thomas Dolby & The Lost Toy People performed a series of secret club dates around the USA, wowing audiences with the brash funky sound of Dolby’s new material. This led to recording sessions with iconic producer Bill Bottrell (Michael Jackson, Sheryl Crow) for his third studio album ALIENS ATE MY BUICK. In addition to its Grammy-nominated production and several dance club hits, the album also boasts the famous deep cut “Pulp Culture.” The track is revered by audiophiles and live sound engineers alike, and has been used for decades to tune festival PA sound systems.
Perhaps best known for blinding us with science, Thomas Dolby has always blurred the lines between composition and invention. Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur and teacher. He came to prominence in the 1980s, releasing hit singles including “She Blinded Me with Science” (1982) and “Hyperactive!” (1984). He has also worked as a producer and as a session musician on hits by Def Leppard, Whodini, The Thompson Twins and Belinda Carlisle. Thomas Dolby is associated with the new wave movement of the early 1980s, a form of pop music incorporating electronic instruments, but his work covers a wide range of musical styles and moods distinct from the high-energy pop sound of his few, better-known commercial successes.
In the 1990s, Thomas Dolby founded Beatnik, a Silicon Valley software company which developed the polyphonic ringtone engine that played back the Nokia tune. Its technology was embedded in more than three billion cell phones and devices made by Nokia, Microsoft (MSFT) and Motorola (MSI). He was also the music director for TED Conferences for twelve years. On the faculty at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University since 2014, he leads Peabody’s Music for New Media program, which enrolled its first students in the fall of 2018. He is now an endowed Professor of Music.
In his No. 1 Amazon (AMZN) bestselling memoir “The Speed of Sound,” Thomas Dolby catalogued his journey from busker on the streets of London and Paris to in-demand session keyboardist with artists such as Foreigner and Stevie Wonder, producer for Joni Mitchell and George Clinton, to sharing the stage with David Bowie at Live Aid and Roger Waters at The Wall in Berlin. Beyond music, he founded a Silicon Valley tech company, co-invented the Nokia polyphonic ringtone, helped transform TED into a global phenomenon, and earned acclaim as a filmmaker and novelist.
In July, 1998, Thomas Dolby received a “Lifetime Achievement in Internet Music” award from Yahoo! Internet Life (YHOO). In 2012, he performed at Moogfest and was the recipient of The Moog Innovation Award, which celebrates “pioneering artists whose genre-defying work exemplifies the bold, innovative spirit of Bob Moog”. In February, 2018, he was awarded the Roland Lifetime Achievement Award. Thomas Dolby has received four Grammy nominations, two each in 1984 and 1988. Thomas Dolby continues to tour the world.
Thomas Dolby & The Lost Toy People headlining Totally Tubular Festival 2026:
JULY
- 17 Phoenix, AZ Celebrity Theatre
- 19 Denver, CO Mission Ballroom
- 22 San Francisco, CA The Castro
- 23 Anaheim, CA House Of Blues
- 24 Hollywood, CA Hollywood Palladium
- 26 Salt Lake City, UT Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre
AUGUST
- 1 New Town, ND 4 Bears Casino
- 7 Washington, DC Warner Theatre
- 9 New York, NY Pier 17
- 12 St. Petersburg, FL Ferg’s Pavilion
- 14 Louisville, KY Iroquois Amphitheater
- 15 Huber Heights, OH Rose Music Center At The Heights
- 16 Aurora, IL RiverEdge Park Amphitheatre
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